The Uttis Tree

Thousands of years ago in the Hima- layan mountains of Nepal, it was the cus- tom for trees to marry. These marriages were arranged by pipal trees, who, because of their great height, could see to the far- thest reaches of the forest.

One spring day, a matchmaking pipal was out looking for trees to join in marriage when he spied a full-blooming, red laligu- rans. Astonished by her beauty and bril- liance, he called to Bandevi, the goddess of the forest. "Bandevi, do you see the crimson laligurans on the other side of the hill? Is she not beautiful beyond description? May I have your permission to find her a husband?"

The goddess Bandevi agreed and the pipal began his search, stretching his branches here and there, to the farthest corners of the forest. Suddenly he spied a tall, full-crowned evergreen uttis tree. He bent toward the uttis and said, "I have a magnificent wife for you. The splendid laligurans fills the eyes and hearts of all who behold her."

The uttis sniffed and held his handsome body even taller. "I will choose whom I will marry," the uttis said. "First I must see this laligurans. Then I will decide."

The pipal, annoyed at the arrogant pride of the uttis, replied, "I am busy just now and cannot arrange a meeting until midwinter." With that, the pipal gathered in his branches and looked away.

All that spring and into the summer the trees lengthened their limbs, putting forth new leaves. In the fall many of the trees lost their greenery. In winter, the snow deep on the ground, the trees stood bare against the sky. But the uttis, strong and hearty, remained green and handsome as ever.

The pipal, true to his word, arranged a meeting between the uttis and the laligurans. The day of the meeting the uttis was in a jovial mood. He strode across the snow toward the laligurans. As he drew nearer, he could see the tips of her branches over the hill and his pace slowed. Then he stopped and stared. Was this the splendid laligurans the pipal had praised so loudly? He could not believe his eyes. Why, she was nothing but a crooked skeleton, her flowers gone, her foliage limp and curled.

The uttis, thinking the pipal had deceived him, was enraged. He turned his back and stomped off. The pipal begged him to look again, but the uttis remained deaf to his pleas. The laligurans stood alone, shivering in the winter wind.

Time passed, and in the spring the beauty of the laligurans returned. Again all the trees of the forest were dazzled by her blossoms. Once again the pipal called on the uttis to arrange a meeting with the laligurans. So persuasive was he that the uttis agreed to have another look. "You'd better not deceive me this time," the uttis cautioned.

Indeed! This time the uttis was so overwhelmed by the beauty of the laligurans he fell deeply in love with her. Gently he swept his branches to her trunk and in a soft, pleading voice asked, "Will you marry me?"But the laligurans, whose heart had been bruised in the winter, refused.

The uttis was struck dumb. He turned to the pipal and begged him to speak on his behalf, to use all of his powers of persuasion to show the laligurans how tall and proud he was, how he remained ever green. But the laligurans had made up her mind and would not change it.

The uttis, desperate and confused, stumbled over the side of a cliff and landed in a ravine, his roots clasping the jagged rocks. The trees of the mountain slopes and forests looked down at the uttis clinging to the rocks and felt afraid.

Bandevi, sensing their fear, outlawed the custom of marriage between the trees. And from that day on, the matchmaking pipal vowed he would never be a matchmaker again. But the sadness of the uttis lives on. To this very day, he grows only where he fell, in the ravines and deep mountain gullies of Nepal.

[1]pipal-a banyan tree

[2]laligurans--rhododendron, the national flower of Nepal

[3]uttis-evergreen that grows primarily at the bottom of cliffs and where there have been landslides